Spring Break Adventure

She had never come across anything like this before. What kind of creature was this? Alyssa didn’t know what to do. This creature was four feet tall, it had long bluish black hair, with deep red eyes. Its hands and feet were webbed like a duck’s feet. Its ears were huge like an elephant’s. Its nose was six inches long, too. Alyssa just stared at it, unsure of what it might do to her. “You know it’s not polite to stare.” It spoke! This flabbergasted Alyssa, for animals didn’t usually talk. What was this? “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, stammering. “I didn’t mean to stare.” After some time had passed and the uneasiness went away, the creature asked Alyssa if she minded that she sat near the fire to keep warm with her. “Yes, please do. What is your name?” “I really don’t know! It’s been a long time since anyone has talked to me or called me by name.” “Well, how about Jenny? You look like a Jenny to me.” Because she felt very awkward, Alyssa decided to question Jenny about why she looked the way she did. “Well, how come you look the way you do?” Jenny replied with a chuckle, “Well, to tell you the truth, I was an experiment that went wrong. I was born and raised in the Black Diamond Circus. People would come from miles and miles just to stare, point, and laugh at me. I didn’t enjoy that, so I scampered away but before doing so I overheard the doctors say that I had a twin brother name Carlos. I’ve been here ever since then. I just want to be like everyone else. I guess that will never happen. Just look at me. I’m not exactly what you would call normal!” “What is normal nowadays?” Alyssa said and began to giggle. “There isn’t one perfect person in the world. What they did to you was extremely wrong. Everybody is special in their own tiny way. That’s what makes us all unique. If everybody was the same or perfect, it would make it a boring world. Don’t you agree? Besides that, there are doctors out there that can be of assistance to you, and maybe they could help you, Jenny.” “Really? There doctors out there that could help me appear normal?” This was music to Jenny’s ears, for she had wished this her whole life. “Yes, actually, there are.” Jenny made a decision that she would demonstrate a few of her special abilities to Alyssa. She picked up Alyssa and flew up into the beautiful blue sky above. Jenny could fly! Up they went, flying over a nearby lake. Alyssa covered her eyes, only taking an occasional peek through her fingers. She could see the lake sparkling like a midnight star. They flew over a school yard where some children were out playing Double Dutch and basketball on the court. They soared fast, twisting and turning. They soared over some nearby buildings and headed back toward the forest. “Wow, that was amazing,” Alyssa reported as she tried to catch her breath. “I could never do something like flying. People just can’t do that. It’s not normal. You have a very special gift here. Why would you ever want to get rid of such a wonderful gift? I wish I could fly, for everything appears so beautiful and so tiny.” The trio crept over to the van. Then they opened the side doors and pulled out their fishing rods, fishing nets, and pails. “Let’s go searching for some frogs and dew worms,” the three said in unison. Off the trio raced down the path toward the small creek in the area. They chased all the frogs, bumping into each other, not really looking where they were running. They fell into the creek so many times that they ended up soaked to the bone. Nervous frogs were jumping all over the place. In fact, it looked like it was raining frogs. It definitely was a sight you had to witness to believe. “Cool! We have to try this again. That was fun. I wonder if there are any more frogs around here,” Jack said. When Jack headed south, he came across a small Garter snake. He wrapped it around his wrist and headed back toward his friends. “Hey, guys, want to scare my mom?” Jack said as he held the snake high up in the air to show his friends. Paige had also found a small lizard and had brought it back to the cabin, too. On the way back, they found a fishing bait store. “Hey! We don’t need to find bait. Look over there,” Mark said, pointing the opposite way. When the trio returned to the cabin, they saw Susan and Zoë setting the picnic table for breakfast. “How was the bait hunting? Did you find any juicy worms or some nice plump frog legs that we can cook up?” Susan questioned. Paige and Mark glanced at each other, thinking the same thing. Jack thought he was going to frighten his mother with the snake. Of course, they were all chuckling to themselves. “Sure thing. You have to come and check it out.” Susan approached Jack and said, “Give it your best shot.” Jack was always trying to come up with new ways of scaring his mother. He paused for a minute or two and then said, “Close your eyes, Mom, and hold out your hands.” Susan did as she was instructed by her son. Susan began to counts to ten like she had done so many times before. As she counted, Jack placed the Garter snake in her hands. The snake slithered slowly up Susan’s arm. Susan immediately opened her eyes and said, “Aw isn’t he cute?” She picked up the snake by its tail and watched curiosity as it twisted and turned. Paige thought she would give it her best shot, too, and tried to scare Susan with her lizard. “That’s a cute little lizard you have there, Paige,” Susan said. “You three had better go cleanup for breakfast before you do anything else.”